


Her Second Chance. His Lucky Charm

by FairyChix26



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Background DJWifi, Background Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant - Freeform, F/M, I basically tagged anyone who spoke, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kitty Section, Lukanette Exchange 2020, but like they aren't the focus of the story sooo idk if that's a good way to do that, but you are all going to read this anyways, can you tell I don't publish fics often?, it's cute it's fluff and it's lukanette, marinette gets to move on, nino is also here, non binary alya, past crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26615122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyChix26/pseuds/FairyChix26
Summary: Maybe following your heart is a lot easier to do when you don’t have sunspots in your eyes..orMarinette meditates, and realises that her heart isn't as conflicted as her mind thinks it is.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 20
Kudos: 93





	Her Second Chance. His Lucky Charm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fenheart87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fenheart87/gifts).



> My exchange for Fenheart87 for the 2020 Lukanette exchange. I hope you like it!
> 
> Thanks to MiniNoire for betaing!

_“You’re the most extraordinary girl, Marinette. Clear as a musical note and as sincere as a melody. You’re the music that’s been playing inside my head since the day we first met. I won’t let anything happen to you.”_

Marinette laid in bed remembering the end of a recurring dream, one that she had been stuck in for months. Everytime she thought about that day, it made her heart hurt and her brain spin. She could see a future with Luka, but it wasn’t anything like what she had imagined with Adrien.

“Marinette, you have been tossing and turning all morning, what’s wrong?” Tikki came up to sit next to her head.

“Maybe Kagami was right Tikki.”

“What do you mean?”

“I spend so much time over thinking things, maybe… maybe my hesitation is going to ruin everything.”

“If you’re worried about Adrien-”

“No it’s not him,” she covered her head with a pillow, “or maybe it is. I don’t know Tikki, what do I do?”

“Talk it out, I can be your sounding board. If you get your thoughts out in the open, maybe they will be easier to decipher,” the kwami looked at Marinette with compassion. They had been around for a very long time, this wasn’t the first time they had a bug who over thought everything.

Marinette took a deep breath and started talking. “Adrien is sunshine and picnics and a huge wedding and kids and a hamster and happily ever after like in a fairy tale. Adrien is a bonfire, warm and beautiful to look at, but I can’t get too close without tripping and burning myself and--” 

“Marinette, slow down!” Tikki said, unable to catch up with what all their holder was saying.

Marinette took a deep breath. “Sorry Tikki.” She continued at a relatively slower pace, “Luka is… well Luka is the crisp night air, watching the stars, falling asleep in a field listening to the hum of the world around us. Luka is like a calm wave that fills me with peace and hope, and even though the water can be dangerous, he makes me feel safe in his grasp.”

“I don’t know, maybe my crush on Adrien was never realistic. Or maybe this is just a guilt dream. Maybe I don’t care about Luka the same way he does for me and that’s why I can’t stop thinking about his confession. On the other hand, maybe I do care about him in the same way. If Adrien is my sunshine, then Luka is my night sky. Both are equally important, yet so contrasting and… Ugh, that doesn’t even make sense!” She broke off looking at her kwami with tears in her eyes. 

“Tikki what do I do?”

Tikki reached out and patted her on the cheek, “Follow your heart, Marinette. If you try to quiet your mind down, where is your heart leading you?”

“I-I… I know you’re right Tikki, but it’s just so hard to make my mind stop running.” 

“Why don’t you try meditation?” 

Agreeing with her kwami, Marinette sat up in her bed and got into a comfortable relaxed position. Taking in a deep breath, she imagined all of her lists of worries being placed into a stack, breathing out she imagined putting all the lists away. She kept her breathing technique up visualizing letting go of the lists and the worries. 

“Marinette! There is someone here for you!” Her mother called from downstairs, causing Marinette to jump out of her bed. 

Scrambling to get down from her loft she called back, “W-what! Who’s here?”

She could hear Rose laugh from downstairs, “It’s us silly, remember you were going to come over and listen to Kitty Section rehearse for inspiration?” 

“Oh! I totally forgot! Give me five minutes!” Marinette rushed around, putting on a simple outfit of shorts and a tank top. Leaving her hair free to conserve time she ran a brush through it while slipping on flats and then descended the ladder out of her room. “Okay I’m ready!”

Rose giggled into Juleka’s side and held out a hand for Mari to take, “Come on, the guys are gonna beat us there already, so we better get a move on.”

* * *

They quickly made it to the _Liberty_ and walked aboard. 

“Hey Ma-a-Marinette, I’m glad you could make it,” a familiar voice called out, making her heart flutter.

“L-luka! I didn’t see you there. Why are you here? N-not that you shouldn’t be here- I mean!”

He put a comforting hand on her shoulder, breaking her word vomit. “It’s okay, I’m sorry I startled you.” Giving her one of his breathtaking small smiles he asked, “You ready to be inspired?”

“I’m always inspired by you.” Marinette breathed out, a dopey smile on her face. Her brain then caught up with her words, causing her eyes to bug out and for her to slam a hand over her mouth. Ducking her head, she tried to hide behind her hair, her entire face turning red.  
  
“I’m inspired by you too, Marinette,” Luka said smiling, as he brushed a piece of hair out of her face behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek, “I’m glad you came. Rose and I have been working on a new song and it’s almost ready. I’m going to sing it today as a trial run.” He let go of Marinette’s face and walked towards the band’s set up.

Marinette stood there, holding a hand to her cheek, “Tikki, I don’t know what my heart is saying, but my head is spinning so there’s that.”

“Come on Marinette, you don’t want to miss the whole practice,” Tikki laughed from Mari’s bag. 

Marinette quickly got over to a table set up near the practice stage so she could work on designs.

After they finished their normal set, Mari looked up to see Ivan grab a stool while Rose adjusted the microphone to the proper height for someone to sing while sitting on the stool. In the background, Luka grabbed his acoustic guitar. 

Juleka walked over to her, “Hey, you’re not gonna want to miss this. He’s been writing and writing for weeks just to get it perfect.”

“Oh, is this the song he and Rose have been working on?” 

She laughed in that silent way that Couffaines did, more of a breath through her nose with a smile, “Rose was just a sounding board, this song is all him. He told me if it sounds good, he is going to play it during one of his other gigs.”

“Huh? Luka plays for other bands?”

“Yeah, a lot of the local Indie groups have members that will come and go, so sometimes he plays with them. The one he’s in with his best friend is where he plays his originals.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“He doesn’t talk about it a lot. Doesn’t like to show off.”

The conversation broke off as Luka started playing the chords that Marinette had heard him work on a few times; her melody. Marinette watched entranced as he quickly lost himself in the song, eyes closed, just feeling the notes one at a time. She was mesmerized watching him play like that, as if the song was strumming out directly from his heart. 

Marinette had forgotten how intense it felt to be the focus of his attention, but as he sang out the first lines, he looked at her it felt like he was looking into her soul. She quickly understood why the girls wanted her here today. He’d finished writing her song, and he had poured his soul into the words and left his heart open and vulnerable. 

Listening to him open up so raw and intense made Marinette remember why she first started falling for him. All of her lists of pros and cons started to come back into the front of her mind. 

_My love for Luka speaks softly, but rings true, like the calm waves of an ocean that whispers the deepest secrets of the world; my love for Adrien is like a bonfire, intense and alluring with its warmth, but not sustainable._

_Adrien is nice and sweet, and everything I thought that my true love would be. Luka is, well Luka is all of those things... but more. He really sees me, even when I don’t see myself._

_Adrien is so amazing, but doesn’t love me. Besides I can’t even say my own name in front of him. Luka understands me when I can’t get the words right, and when I go non-verbal he lets me figure things out before I start to talk again._

_Adrien tries to do that too, but he’s just as awkward around people as I am... and somehow, I always feel like I’m making a mess of things. With Luka, well my anxiety still runs wild, but I don’t feel like if I fail, it will ruin everything._

_I put Adrien on a pedestal, just like people do to Ladybug. I’m supposed to be one of his best friends, but I can’t talk to him without making things weird. I think that’s why my feelings have been so conflicted from the start. I have never seen Luka as more than who he is._

_As much as Alya describes him as “mysterious”, I never see that. He may not always make sense with words, but he conveys his feelings through his music. This is a form of communication that I understand, and the way he just understands my feelings before I even voice them... Honestly, how many times have I made someone a gift instead of explaining my gratitude. Luka’s songs are just like that, they are his creation, and I love that part of him, along with everything else._

Luka’s song came to an end just as she came to a revelation that she probably should have had a long time back. Marinette’s heart had already made a choice, but her head yet had to catch up. Luka smiled at her again and she understood. 

Marinette had been so mesmerized by Luka’s eyes she hadn’t actually noticed him coming closer, “So, did you like it?” 

She felt her cheeks warming up, “I love you. I-I mean I love it, the song that you just played, for me.” She ducked her head and hid her face behind her hair again, after what had to be the worst attempt at the French language in the history of forever.

Luka placed his hand under her chin. Applying almost no pressure, he raised her face, “I’m glad you do, I’d love for you to be there when I perform this weekend.” 

“I’d like that. I’ll there be, I mean you’ll be there, I mean…”

He cut her off with a small laugh and a smile, “It’s okay, I understand. I’ll make sure there is a spot saved just for you.”

* * *

“Girl I just don’t understand, you mean you’re really over Adrien?” Marinette rolled her eyes again at Alya. She had called them as soon as she had gotten home. “Hey! Don’t roll your eyes at me! This is a valid question. You’ve only been crushing on him for almost a year and a half now!”

“I realized that I didn’t really know him, Alya. Not really.” Mari took a deep breath and rolled over, looking at her ‘Adrien Wall’ as Alya and the girls called it. “I mean look at the pictures I have, more than half of them are from his advertisement shoots, I barely have any real pictures of him.”

“I mean, yeah that all makes sense… I guess I never thought of it that way.”

“I mean honestly? When have he and I ever hung out without me being so nervous that I couldn’t talk to him?”

“Well there was that day when the perfume ad came out.”

“I was in class president mode during that. It hardly counts.”

“I support you 100% girl, you know I’m team Mari before anything else.” 

“Thanks Alya,” she paused and then smirked remembering the other reason she had called them, “sooo, do you wanna go fabric shopping with me later?” 

“I can hear your smirk and no. You’re not trapping me in a store for 6 hours again!” 

“I needed a lot of fabric, I was making three different gowns!”

“They locked us in there Mari!” both of them were laughing at this point. “Get Sunshine to go shopping with you. He can be your new best friend.” 

Marinette gasped in mock horror, “I can’t believe you’re abandoning me!”

Alya laughed on the other end of the line, “Not abandoning you, more like putting up an ad ‘Best Friend, free to good home’” 

“You’re not even charging a rehoming fee? For shame Alya.”

“Ha ha, alright I gotta go. Nino should be over soon, we’re babysitting together so we can share the misery.”

“Sounds like _fun_. I do have to get to the fabric store though, talk to you later!”

* * *

Alya was on a mission. They knew that Marinette was serious about letting Adrien go, but they also knew their best friend better than anyone in the world. The girl would need closure, and honestly someone to make her eat sometime today. So how better to provide both of these things than getting her to hang out with Adrien as actual friends, and not a one sided mega crush. 

“Babe, you said that Sunshine doesn’t have anything planned today right?”

Nino looked at them quizzically, “Yeah, but I don’t know if he will be able to go anywhere.”

Alya smiled, “he always seems to be able to escape when a friend is in need.”

Nino laughed at that, “Babearaide, setting Nette and him up isn’t a ‘friend in need’”

They pouted at their boyfriend, “I’m not even setting them up this time. Mari said she’s moving on, and I want to provide her closure.” Nino looked at them skeptically. “Also she’s going to the fabric district and I don’t trust her to remember to eat.” They started texting Adrien while Nino was still laughing about that, “Will you grab snacks while I text him? I’m gonna start the movie.”

 **_Lois Lane in Training:_ ** _Sunshine, I have a proposition for you!_

 ** _Model Boy:_** _Idk how I feel about the question,_ _will Nino be mad?_

 **_LLiT:_ ** _not that kind of proposition you dweeb. Here, it’s an ad that was “submitted” to the ladyblog_

 **_LLiT:_ ** _[id: a screenshot of the ladyblog with an ad photoshopped into the corner. The ad has a black and white picture of Marinette draping fabric on a dress form. She appears to be making a gown for an event. There is bold text above the picture reading_ “Best Friend, Free to good home!” _There are action bubbles on the picture with small text reading_ “WOW!” “So Amazing!” “Will trap you in a fabric store for 8+ hours”. _Then below the picture in bold text again is Alya’s phone number with_ “Contact current best friend to arrange pick up.” _in smaller text below that_ “no but really you will get locked into a fabric store and have to call the manager to let you out.”

 **_MB:_ ** _lolz, where is she?_

 **_LLiT:_ ** _Hello interested adopter, you can find your new best friend in Marché Saint-Pierre. She’s working on a list of commissions so you may have to hunt her down._

 **_LLiT:_ ** _also never say lolz again_

 **_MB:_ ** _I shall find her and make sure she is fed properly. Make sure ur taking care of my bff too ;) He needs to be fed three times a day and make sure during his nap he takes off his headphones._

 **_MB:_ ** _Also u can’t make me :P_

 **_LLiT:_ ** _Swap back at school on monday?_

 **_MB:_ ** _I accept the terms_

 **_LLiT:_ ** _The contract is sealed!_

* * *

“Marinette!” Marinette jumped and then stumbled, turning around and almost knocking over the display of lace samples. 

“O-oh! Hey Adrien!” he beamed at her in greeting, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m pretty sure I’m your new best friend, for the weekend at least,” he said this while laughing and pulling out his phone, “See?” He followed up by showing her the texts from Alya.

Marinette quickly read the messages and laughed. “Well I guess you’re stuck with me for the weekend.” Adrien smiled at her, both of them noting that this was the longest Marinette had spoken to him without stuttering, “That means you have to do all the Alya things.”

He tilted his head in a way that was a bit reminiscent of Chat Noir. “Like what?”

“Holding fabric when I need my hands free, telling me when I need to take a break, forcing me to take said breaks,” she listed off on her fingers, “hmm I think that’s everything… no wait, I forgot boy talk.”

“Well if that’s all,” he laughed lighting up the room, “but that means that you have to do all the Nino things too.”

“Oh? And what would those be?”

He started listing the same way she had, “Tell me when I’m being a doofus, groan at all my puns, convince me to buy the Math pun shirt that I passed on the way here, and listen to girl problems.”

Marinette stuck out her hand to shake on it, “It’s a deal!”

“The contract is sealed,” Adrien copied Alya in a deep monotone voice, making them both laugh.

* * *

“So, what girl problems does the _great_ Adrien Agreste have?” Marinette asked, placing her water glass back on the table of the small cafe they were eating lunch at. 

He laughed as he threw a piece of his roll at her. “I can have girl problems, I’m not some untouchable demigod.”

“Oh aren’t you? Because I heard in teen heartthrob magazine that you are the-” she ducked, laughing as she avoided a piece of ice, “you’re gonna get us kicked out.” 

He stuck his tongue out at her, “I’ve been thinking about Kagami, and I am just confused. How do you know when you like someone?”

Marinette thought that over while chewing a bite of her sandwich, “I’ve been thinking about that today too. Someone wise told me that the best way to think through things is to meditate on them.”

He seemed to think about that for a moment, “What if I’m in love with someone else?”

“Well, how do you know the other person?”

Adrien hesitated for a moment, “She’s someone I work with. She’s really amazing, but I feel like I don’t know her very well. Everytime I try to get closer to her it’s like I took two steps backwards.”

Marinette smiled softly, thinking about how similar this sounded to her, “I think that you can’t really like someone unless you know all of them. If she doesn’t want to let you get closer to her, then you don’t really know enough about her to love her. Does that make sense?”

He thought it over for a moment, “Yeah, I guess that does make sense.”

“You can’t love someone if you don’t know all of them, including their flaws. Otherwise you’re just putting that person on a pedestal.” 

Adrien thought about that, before grinning up at her. “Thanks Marinette, that really helps!” 

Marinette smiled at him, “Alright, let’s finish eating so we can get back to shopping. I have a deadline to meet.” 

* * *

“Chat, how do you know when you’re in love?”

The two heroes were lounging on top of the Arc de Triomphe after a game of tag left them both tired. Their heads were by each other while they both stretched out, looking at the stars above them. 

“Well LB, if you had asked me a few weeks ago, I might have had an answer to that.”

Ladybug raised her head up to look at him, “What do you mean Chaton?”

“I don’t think I have ever really been in love.” 

She sat up and turned to face him to see him better, but kept quiet while he gathered his thoughts.

Finally he also sat up turning to look at her, “Bugaboo, I don’t think I was really in love with you.”

She frowned at that and started to open her mouth to answer.

“Wait, let me finish.” He took a deep breath, “it’s just, I spent this whole time putting you on this pedestal. I convinced myself that I knew the real you, and that since our miraculi are two halves of a whole that meant we were supposed to be soulmates.” Ladybug watched as a tear started to run down his face, “I had a really close friend talk to me about it. She told me that to fall in love with someone you had to know all of them, including their faults. I realised that I never let you be a full person. Can you forgive me?”

She reached out a hand to him and drew him into a hug, “Of course I can forgive you, you silly cat. You’re my best friend, no matter what.” 

Chat gave a watery laugh, “You’re my best friend too.” 

After sitting together like that for a while, Ladybug let go of Chat Noir and stood up, dusting herself off. 

“Alright alley cat, time to get some sleep. See you tomorrow for patrol?”

He smiled at her, “You have to bring the snacks, Bugaboo.” 

She swings away on her yo-yo, shouting over her shoulder, “I won the game, you bring the snacks!”

* * *

Marinette was dressed up in the outfit she had designed to wear to Luka’s show. He had texted her where the show was taking place and she didn’t want to be late. She was really excited to see him. Neither of them had called it a date, but she wasn’t sure that it wasn’t one. 

Her dress was a casual skater dress in aqua with dark blue trim around the bottom of the skirt and the neckline, as well as a matching dark blue sash. She also wore a jean jacket, on the back it had a snake design. She had been a little worried that it looked too much like Sass, but after panicking about it and finally getting Sass to confirm that she was worrying for no reason, she decided it was a fine design choice. If by chance Luka made the connection, they would cross that bridge then. 

When she got to the outdoor stage she saw Luka warming up, he waved at her and she waved back. 

“This is it Tikki.” she whispered to her hidden Kwami.

“This is what Marinette?”

“Where I’m supposed to be, I can just feel it.”

* * *

Luka found her quickly after the show, the band had closed out the show on his song for her and she was still blushing. “Did you like the set Marinette?”

“It was amazing Luka. You seemed so at home on stage.”

He laughed a little at that, running a hand through his hair. “I guess it’s like everytime I’m on stage, it’s a second chance at a first impression, you know? It’s like even if people have already met me, they haven’t met my music yet. So each performance is letting me put my best foot forward.” 

“Luka, I have an answer for you.”

He tilted his head, curious. “An answer about what?”

“About this.” She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ve finally followed my heart to where it’s been leading me.”

He looked shocked for a moment, lightly touching his cheek where she had kissed him. Marinette had just kissed him, and it hadn’t meant to be platonic. Not with the words she had spoken.

Her giggles caused him to snap out of his trance, the gobsmacked expression on his face slowly giving way to a wide grin. Luka scooped Marinette into his arms, spinning her around in a circle as she laughed out loud. “I’m so happy Marinette. You’re my muse, the melody in my dreams and the rhythm in my heart.” Still holding her in his arms, he leaned his head forward to rest their foreheads together, “I’ve been in love with you for so long.”

Marinette smiled up at him, looking into his eyes through her eyelashes. “I want this to be our second chance.”

Luka smiled at her words, the conspiring smile on his face stretching out as he knew that the snake design wasn’t an accident. “No, I wouldn’t do anything that led to this day differently. No amount of foresight could have predicted this outcome.” Luka looked at her intently, “Would it be okay if I kissed you, my melody?”

Marinette just nodded, as if she was not sure that her words would come out right. 

As Luka set her back on the ground, she smiled and lit up his world. It was a smile of pure, unadulterated happiness, one that reached her eyes and made them sparkle like diamonds. 

* * *

They would eventually have to talk to each other about their secret identities. They both knew that having a healthy relationship wasn’t going to be easy to balance with a full time superhero gig, but right now, in this moment, everything was perfect. 

Marinette knew that she had finally found her path in life. Luka is the calm to her anxiety and the safety net she needs. He will be there to catch her again and again, no matter how many times she falls. She is excited to get her friends together to hang out with him and know this part of her heart. Chat Noir was always going to be her partner and best friend, and Adrien would always be her first love, but Luka is the home that she will run to, over and over again.

Luka knew that this was it for him, his heart song would never be complete without his melody. Marinette was the whirlwind of inspiration that kept him going. He was so happy to introduce her to his friends, and they were happy that he was writing music again. She is his reason for waking up, and that is always going to be enough.

She was his designer, he her inspiration. He was her musician, she his melody. She was his stars, he her night sky. He was her Second Chance, she his Lucky Charm.

And neither of them were going to let go of this for anything.


End file.
